My 'basic' skincare part 1

As I was thinking about what to post 'first' - well, I have to admit that I've been collecting the photos, product and experiences for ages, but never had enough energy and spirit to restart.

So first of all, here are my bacis skincare products.

First of all, my skin type. Originally, I have oily skin that is very thick, tend to have acne and shine all the time - my gynaecologist supected some hormone-disorder, which wouldn't be suprising, as my mother also have some issues with her endocryne system. My blood test proved that he was right.

So I take pills now but not very strong ones, and this way I can manage a normal to oily-combination skin.

I tend to be oily in my t-zone, and have some black-heads there. Also, my skin is naturally very dehydrated - that condition don't really depend on my skin-type.

It's also natural, and my body requires a lots of water, and my blood is always very thick. It's not a problem, it's a condition, and might do me some good, as I don't have high blood perssure - therefore I won't suffer from heartattack or stroke. But I'm allowed to drink 1-2 cups of coffee a day.

So, to cut is short, I have very-very dehydrated skin, which gets oily

in the t-zone, and also tends to become flacky as it produces a lots of skin cells - that's a condition called seborrhoeic skin.

(when I'm not on pills, my skin becomes more oily, and I even a get a seborrhoeic dermatitis - this is an inflammation caused my natural yeast on the skin's surface. It likes the skin's natural oil, and makes the skin surface red and flaky. It's not a big deal tough, and don't require any strong medicines.)

For this condition the best is to exfolite, hydrate, and mattify a little bit.

So here are my products:

1. Clinians face cleansing foam gel -it's a very gentle, yet very effective cleanser. Foams very vell, and contains some madelic acid to exfoliate. Mandelic acid is derived from almonds, and it's a very gentle AHA-alpha hydroxi acid - it exfoiates the skin's surface. It's a multi-product, for very dry to very oily skins, as every skin type can use this kind of exoliation. It's also a very gentle but effective cleanser, even my very dehydrated skin loves it.

As far I know, everyone who I suggested this cleanser, loved it very much.

Clinians is an italian company by the way.

2. Bioderma hydrabio scrub - a scrub with little PU particles and creamy texture. The little grains don't hurt even the inflamed skin. (I avoid natural scrubs like the ones with apricot or nut shell grains because they tend to hurt acne, and crack the inflamed pimples and make them worse) It also contains salicylic acid and some apple extract, which I guess also has some exfoliating action. It's has very creamy, thick texture, I use it out of my T-zone. Altough it wouldn't a very strong exfoliator according to the texture (strong efxoliation needs an acidy anvironment) but it's just perfect for my dry areas.

3. Bioderma Sebium scrub - it's an exfoliationg scrub for oily skin. It contains the same, gentle microbeads as the hydrabio cleanser. It has a gel-like, close to transparent texture and much more runny than the Hydrabio scrub. I use it on my T-zone, and don't really scrubb it, as it has some glycolic acid in it, and exfoliates my skin even without scrubbing. Again, I don't know anything about the PH. But the result is just fantastic after this scrub. My skin is supple, super soft and clear like hell!

4. Lancome exfoliance clarte - it's kind of a leftover product in my stash. I bought in nearly 2 years ago, and rarely us it - it is a gel with little blue and white micrbeads and some jojoba-beads too. It contains papaya and pineapple extracts, which are natural enzymes that also exfoliates the skin. My only problem with this scrub is that altough it's for normal skin, it tends to make my skin so dehydrated after using it. Like my face was screaming after some moisturizer. And that is just not a very good sign. I nearly finished it tough, but I won't repuchase it (especially because it cost 2-3 as much as my Bioderma scrubs).

5. Hydrabio moisturizing mask - this hydrating mask is a big wow for my skin. I've tried hundreds of moisturising masks - from the japanese sheet masks to creamy and gel masks from even luxury and drugstore brands - but this was the best I've ever came across. This one is creamy (it's glycerine and sylicone-based) but apart from the base ingredients, it's not like any other masks for me. It is cream but light too, and desappears from my skins without any sticky or yucky feeling.

As the manual says, the best method for using this product is: after puchasing, use it every day for a week, and than once or twice a week will be enough. And it is.

6. and 7. Bioderma Sebium mat creams - one transparent(6.) and one tinted(7.).

These are not 'special' products - like masks or cleansers - but part of my everyday products.

6. is a colorless gel that looks like a makeup-primer - and pretty much acts like as one. As it's silicone-based, it's not big suprise. My skin likes this cream-gel very much, really keeps my shine away, and helps my skin stay clear all day long. I use it over sunscreen, under foundation, or mixed with some foundation for a sheer, matte layer o my skin.

7. is a more complicated case - it's tinted, the texture is a bit different. I don't know if they still carry it, but I have a stash of this product. It looks very light but needs some blending, and after that it's OK with every skintype. Opposite to the clear version, it shouldn't be used over any other (silicone-based) creams, and it's not recommended to use a foundation over it, as if you use anouther silicone-based produst with it, it comes down from your face in little grains, like it was a scrub. I experienced this much times with other products, and than i realized it's caused by the too much silicone-based products I tried to layer.

(But the question is, why would it be used under/over foundation as it is a tinted moisturizer? I was the silly one I guess, for trying it. )

Overall, both of these mattifying moisturizers are my favourite.

//All of these products are my personal favourites, I purcased them for myself, and they became part of my skin care regimen. It's only my personal experiance. Other peolpe with different skin types may have different opinion on these products.//

Europe vs US

So, first of all, I wanna write about the 'local' skincare habits, practice and rave. The thing that I'll write are only my point of view.

In Europe the european-french beauty industries and techniques are the dominant.
French brands, like Lancome, Avene, La Roche Posay, Bioderma are wild-spread here.

There are not a lot of hunarian products, but what is liked, are mainly make natural products. Like the Ilcsi's often written as Elchee. They have a beauty-saloon in the UK, Dubai or Japan for example. I'have used Ilcsi products before, to be honest they were not my favourite, but I have sensitive skin and I trust in a good sunscreen and ingredients from the lab, like hyaluronic acid in my face cream or serum. But I would recommand the anti-cellulite creme with paprika - makes Your thighs sting, like it was bitten, helps the blood circulete faster. Or the toners, for exampla they have great rose-water toner.

My problem with this brand is that there are too much beauticans, who work with that products instead of using great ingredients when it's needed.
To be honest, as far as I know, every 1 from 10 beauticans suggest the guests to use a sunscreen every day, while the dermatologists just couldn't stop shouting it out loud...

Or the Omorovicza. You may have read about it already. :) To be honest, I've never used one of their products, so I couldn't say anything about it.

Some fancy notes: Founder of the Estée Lauder brand, the famous Ms. Lauder had hungarian roots: her parents were hungarian and czech immigrants, and her brother was also a founder of a school in Hungary. One of my BFFs have gone there, she said that the teachers gift were always containing some Lauder products. By the way, her name is Eszter, that's the hungarian version of Estée!

In europe, using AHA and BHA is not a wild spread routine, and some ingredients, like BPO reqiures dermatologist's custody, even tough the medicines here are a step more modern then in the US.

(For example, when I edited my Google-health profile, I didn't find my actual anti-allergy medicine, but the last version of it, that I took 2 years before, when they came up with a better-formulated, same-agent-but-less-side-effect-version of the pill. But health insurance system is different too. Even sunscreens are far more than what they use in the US products.)

Anyway, I have to get my BHA from the US (I'm using paula's choise products- I can get them here from Netherlands, for double price as in the US ) or AHA (from the same or skinceuticals, but they don't sell products here) on the other hand, there are some things that i would never get from the US. Like sunsreens.

I'm obsessed with the sunscreans, not only the texture, the smell or effect, but the biological effect and the chemical molecule too. I have some tube of japanese sunscreens at home, and sometimes I'm working as a part-time hostess for a french company that makes close to perfect sunscreens. It's the Bioderma, the sunscreens contain several ingredients, like octinoxate, avobenzone, octocrylene, titan-dioxide, zinc-oxide, Tinosorb S and Tinosorb M molecules. (these two are only used in Europe)

Fortunately, the sunscreen-loving behaviour is becoming more and more popular in Hungary, despite of the existence of soooo many girls, who's ideal skin-color is black. At least that's what they think.

-b-